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Garden City
Community College is pleased to announce procurement of a $300,000 grant from
the Sunderland Foundation toward renovation and remodel of two athletic
training facilities.

The grant will
significantly offset the cost of a $491,000 planned project to update the athletic
training facilities inside the Dennis Perryman Athletic Complex and to develop
an on-site athletic training facility inside an existing maintenance building
at Broncbuster Stadium.

“We are thrilled
to receive this generous gift from the Sunderland Foundation,” said GCCC
President Dr. Ryan Ruda. “It alleviates much of the funding strain that our
institution would otherwise have burdened and allows us to reallocate funds to
other deferred maintenance projects. We are appreciative of the foundation’s tremendous
work and outreach.”

Established in
1945 by Lester T. Sunderland, the Overland Park, KS-based organization makes
grants annually to charitable and non-profit organizations for construction and
special interest projects.

GCCC’s gift will
be directed through the GCCC Endowment Association, a private, fundraising arm
of the community college and a 501 (c) (3) organization which also serves as
the grant applicant for this project.

In recent months,
the Endowment Association has put a focus on acquiring grant opportunities from
private foundations and charitable organizations to assist the college with
fulfilling educational and capital improvements needs, according to GCCC
Endowment Director Jeremy Gigot.

“While the
Endowment Association has for the last several decades focused on local
foundations and charitable trusts, this is the first time we’ve gone outside of
southwest Kansas to acquire private grant funding,” Gigot said. “We are so
excited with the success of this endeavor.”

The athletic
training facility inside the DPAC was first built in 1985 and has not undergone
major renovations since its inception. The remodel project will bring
facilities and equipment up to date to meet industry standards while greatly
enhancing academic programming and training practicum opportunities for
students.

“This
project allows us to tremendously increase the academic experience for both our
athletic training and exercise science students,” Dr. Ruda also said.

Additionally, the
major renovation of the maintenance facility at Broncbuster Stadium will allow
GCCC to convert a significant portion of the building into a secondary, on-site
athletic training site. The project will significantly improve the prevention
and care for GCCC and visiting student athletes who use the facility on both
game days and scheduled practices. The stadium primarily serves GCCC’s
football, soccer, and track and field programs.

In addition to
improving the quality of service that student-athletes receive from qualified
sports medicine professionals on a daily basis, having a dedicated facility
immediately adjacent to the stadium will also significantly improve the
response time for training and medical staff, according to GCCC Director of
Athletics Greg McVey.

“Student-athlete safety is
our number one priority,” McVey said. “We are committed to providing the best
possible athletic experience for all of our sports teams, and these facility
upgrades will move us forward towards that goal.”

Ground-breaking will begin on
the renovations at the stadium first, and will continue at both locations
through this summer. Both renovation projects are planned for completion ahead
of the fall semester, which begins in August 17, 2020.

The project is being
completed by Dick Construction, Inc., of Garden City, which submitted the
lowest-cost bid. The remaining $191,000 of the project cost will be covered by
capital outlay funds.

The mission of
the Sunderland Foundation is to improve quality of life through reinvesting in
communities where the Ash Grove Cement Company has historically operated.

Lester T.
Sunderland, founder, served as president of the Ash Grove Cement Company for 33
years as a respected leader in his industry. Prior to joining Ash Grove in
1909, Mr. Sunderland was a principal and founder of the Sunderland Brothers
Company, a leading distributor of coal, lime, cement, and other building
materials headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska.

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